Aim For The Head
by CrimsonJoy
Summary: Cora brought her heartless army to Storybrooke below the deck of Hook's ship, but entering our world and the different magic changed them into bloodthirsty zombies. Slightly OOC, but then again, the apocalypse does that


It had been a month.

A full month since everything had happened and they had found themselves trapped inside Mayor Mills' mansion. It felt like longer. But even without electrical power, I found it easy to tally the passing time, unlike most of the others, who seemed to have lost their grip on time.

It had started on a Wednesday morning, early. Henry noticed first, of course. I have come to listen more carefully to that boy now. A bit late, but I wasn't the only one who should have learned. Emma should have thought before brushing him off. And Snow, and David. But no one did. Nothing we can do now though.

Anyway, Henry noticed the blip in the water as Cora's ship pulled up into the docks. Why he was looking I'd never know, but as he shouted out to his biological mother to alert her, she brushed him off in favour of arguing with Regina.

I wasn't there at the time of course. I heard much later, after everything had begun to die down to only minor crisis. I was at the diner, eating breakfast and chatting idly with Dr Hopper while Pongo sat at my feet, looking longingly at my pancakes until I gave in and offered him a piece to keep him happy.

But what I was doing didn't matter. What mattered was, later on the night, while we all slept and Henry lay in his bed terrified, Cora and Hook came ashore, leaving their precious ship alone. But they did nothing but look over the town, discovering bit by bit the layout of their new territory.

Meanwhile, or so I assume from what has happened now, the undead that had once been Cora's powerful army had kicked into a frenzy that she hadn't noticed. Or they had as soon as they had entered this world, I don't know. And it doesn't matter, this is what happened afterwards. Cora's bodies came alive and escaped into the night.

They weren't as controlled as Snow had described them as being. They were feral and wild, frothing at the mouth and running in a strange, broken gait that was no faster than a light jog. Though speed really isn't an issue when you don't get tired, and you're starving for a meal that's forever running from you.

A month later and we can finally almost find it funny that Cora Mills died first. Killed by her own creations. How Killian ever escaped will be a mystery that will never be solved. He didn't talk too much after that. Must've been horrible or something.

We all found her body the morning after, a stain on the pavement outside the library. I remember that particular day very well.

It wasn't to early when we realised something was off. Granny had slept in for once and hadn't opened the diner, and Regina hadn't gone for her morning walk. So it wasn't until parents had begun to drop their children to the bus stop for school that Cora was found.

Grace's screams woke everyone, and in moments the whole (admittedly small) population of the town had appeared at the centre to help, only to find the last thing anyone had expected. The normal hustle of bustle of tragedy began right that very moment. Children were tugged home by families, people stood in small groups discussing everything in the chilly air while Dr Whale sat on his haunches beside the red mush marring the road trying to figure out who the hell it was.

I know I sound horrible, but worse has happened since, and the witch had brought it on herself. The price of evil is high. I know that well now.

Ruby stood beside me with a grimace on her lips as everything began to fall to crap around us. (Though we didn't know it at the time.) She didn't seem to be fazed much by the body, in fact she barely took the time to look at it. I asked her what was wrong, and she replied that she could smell something rotting.

I had, in my hysterical 'Oh god there's a dead person over there' way, laughed at her, informing her quickly that, "There is a rotting thing right there," pointing out the remains and earning several looks from the people around us.

But I had relaxed Ruby enough to keep her from worrying about a smell in the air, and that was enough for me.

Later on, I would berate myself for that one.

Emma saw the hoard later on while patrolling the area, hiding under the toll bridge picking Cora out of their teeth. Being a reasonably smart woman, she had called this to everyone's attention via a town meeting and promptly sent everyone into a huge panic that more than likely cost some lives now that I think about it…

Anyway, I remember her calling the people who hadn't fled to attention and then having Regina take over forcibly after Emma had no idea what to do next.

Regina brought us back to her home after a few minutes of talk, with the reasoning that she had magic to keep us safe, food to keep us healthy and space to keep us all. Alive that is.

She also had the foresight to point out that we couldn't leave anyway; what with the magical barrier and all.

Of course something had to go wrong for me then. Rumpelstiltskin went off on a tangent that lasted about fifteen minutes about magic or something and stormed out onto the empty streets. Of course, he hadn't given me an ultimatum, he knew I'd stay. I was devastated when I heard he had left of course, but I was quick to move on. He didn't think of me when he left, I had no need to think of him then. It was too dangerous to mourn anyway. I haven't seen him since.

The first week had been horrible. We all spent our days by the windows, looking out for the limping 'people', watching as the living finally ventured out of their houses to get supplies, only to get torn down like an old rickety fence, in seconds and leaving a mess. Thankfully, we had Regina to magic us up our food like she had for the past twenty-eight years, so we never went hungry.

We still went out of course, trying to hunt down the 'zombies', as Henry called them. Better to get rid of them, Whale had said, we couldn't all live in Regina's home forever.

Whale didn't come back from that first 'hunting trip'. And with him went our only medical doctor.

Thank god for this world's ideas on zombie killing, most of them turned out to work quite well. Like the head thing. Get something into their brain and they were down. But everything else only served to anger them. You could break their bones to make them slower, but they didn't register pain, only that they didn't have the use of that limb anymore.

Burning also worked alright, as Geppetto found out when his workshop burned to the ground with over three of the biters in there. He was a smart man. I could see why he had been such a close companion of the royals.

But killing them wasn't the problem. That was easy. Keeping the spread down enough to be under control was another thing. They added with almost every kill that they didn't completely destroy. If their prey still had a head and most of their body parts, they came back.

That was the worst part I think, seeing everyone like that. People you knew. Must have been worse for everyone else though, I was still practically a stranger in this town. It wasn't even just people either. The disease infected animals too. Cats were the hardest to fight off, and dogs were bad too. I heard I rumour that Jiminy was infected by a wasp's sting, but I don't know if that's true.

Actually, the worst part had to be the moaning. The herd was actually pretty smart when lumped together like they were. Smart enough to track us to the mansion at least. And to corner us in there, night and day, the whole way around the building… and moan all night freaking long…

I won't lie; I've seen some people take joy out of throwing things down at the zombies, like empty bottles and such. And some people used them for target practise, but I could never do that. It felt to cheap.

Things got a little better after all that. Halfway through our second week we began to work more efficiently, finding comfortable places for everyone to sleep, setting up a twenty four hour guard to watch through windows and deciding who would cook when Regina's magic was weak. It was a little easier to close your eyes at night then.

After a full month it was amazing how far we had come. Granted, for a few days we had struggled (finding a generator in a small town was the hardest thing in the world, let me tell you), but what we had achieved had sent us back to a world that almost felt normal again. But of course, this couldn't last forever, but I'll get around to that again later.

I was in bed when it happened, making out with Ruby… I forgot to tell you about the Ruby thing didn't I?… well it's a long story but I'll cut it down a little, I don't have time to write in detail every day we've spent together in this house. But I'll elaborate a bit for you.

It started pretty early on, somewhere in the first week I think. Everyone was so panicked and scared, tensions ran high, people were dying and we were basically all messed up worse than Cora. So drink was on the menu a lot over the days, for most meals, and things happened between a lot of people. Ruby and I being one of these.

But we were different. We were best friends. Most of these couples just played it off, did a quick walk and shame to another room and left it like that. But for one, we shared a room and couldn't do that, and two… we didn't care. Granted, it was very, _very _awkward when we woke up that first morning, all cuddled together under that rubbish blanket Snow had called a duvet.

Ruby kind of freaked out a little, but she was easy to calm down. She knew very well we wouldn't be around for too much longer (one of the sensible ones, unlike Charming… he was almost funny with his 'believe' speeches), so as soon as she knew I didn't regret it, neither did she.

So yeah, making out on the bed progressed a little and here we are, barely ever apart. I think that's enough of an explanation for you, because I really need to tell the rest of this story before I run out of time.

That night of the month long anniversary was a huge celebration. I don't know why, personally I didn't think month was long enough to be celebrating anything, but who was I to say. Snow and Charming liked it, and they had been quick to reinstate themselves in charge. They had huge amounts of support of course but honestly, Regina had much more right in this world. She had saved us after all…

Anyway, I'm once again getting to deep into details. Everyone was drinking; even Henry had gotten a small amount of beer from Emma (against some people's advice). The only sober people had been Snow and Ruby. Even I was a little tipsy, but not too bad. I could still see straight at least… that was better than most people.

Ruby stuck close to me, and I could almost see her bristling. Earlier, she had claimed that this whole affair wasn't safe, and I remember agreeing wholeheartedly, but after the wine started flowing I couldn't resist a glass or two. So there we all were, some of us completely hammered, Leroy was almost passed out of the floor, muttering words no one else understood.

I was dragged up to our room pretty early on as soon as Ruby had had enough of listening to everyone rambling when she felt something was off. So back to where we started then, I was on the bed making out with Ruby when the lights went out with a flash and a small scream from downstairs.

Ruby was up in a split second, telling me to do that same quickly. With a slightly fuzzy mind, I did as she asked. I remember cursing the generator's cold heart for decided that very moment to give out, but that seems almost funny now.

We were both downstairs a few seconds, later, clinging to each other carefully in an attempt to get downstairs without falling and cracking our heads. Not a bad way to go actually, now that I think about it more carefully… but it still wouldn't be ideal at that very moment when everyone was panicked.

Downstairs, everyone was yelling, someone was crying and nothing was being done. Outside, they were growling and howling while the cats hissed and the dogs threw themselves at the walls in futile attempts to get inside. They should have known better after so long, but no matter. They had half rotten brains, we shouldn't have expected better.

It was pretty obvious the generator had gone out, but nothing was happening that could possible fix it. Myself and Ruby sat back and watched for a bit. We knew we wouldn't be heard over the yells of those already involved, and there was no rush really.

Eventually, David had to volunteer to go out and fix the damned thing, as he was the only one who knew how and there was a huge fuss about him and his safety and 'he had to bring someone with him' and there were some tears shed but right now I don't care. You'd get it if you were there, trust me.

In the end, he went alone, and we all waited in silence for his return. The generator was in the garage. There's something I never understood. I'd seen enough of these films to know that if you ever set up a generator in a zombie movie or book, _don't put it in the bloody garage!_ You will die trying to get to it. End of story. But I know nothing about that kind of thing, maybe they need to be put in the garage… but that doesn't interest me anymore.

I remember sitting on those cold couches that Regina owned, curled up into Ruby while she stroked my hair. Listening to her breathing even out as she became a little more relaxed. Now I think she may have been listening to them, trying to find out where there were like a bat. That was why about fifteen minutes later she seemed to wake up a bit, standing and going to the door, waiting for Charming to come back in.

And come back he did, screaming and shouting for us to open the door, that they were right behind him, to help him. Ruby threw the door open and he practically jumped it. Personally, I think it was a bit overdramatic, they were well behind him, at least a two minute run.

But it didn't matter what I though, Snow and Emma and Henry and almost everyone were all crying into his shoulders, asking if he was okay. I actually distinctly heard Snow ask if he was bitten and his reply of, "They couldn't get that close to me," in that cocky voice before he kissed her and all was good again.

He hadn't fixed the generator though.

I doubt you really need me to tell you what happened next, but I have too. He _was_ bitten, naturally. And no one thought to check before bed because he was Prince Charming. Idiots…

To get to the end of this, Ruby and I were interrupted yet again, this time by Snow's shrill, pained scream. We broke apart in fright, staring at the single wall that separated our room from Snow's. That moment was strange, like we were waiting for something to happen, but not preparing for it at all.

Any sane person would have gotten their knives (and in Ruby case, her baseball bat) and gotten changed and charged in there, or charged _away_ from there, I'm not picky. But Snow was one of Ruby's best friends so in there would be the way. But we did neither. All we did was listen to the banging of doors and the yells of the others.

It was barely a full minute of silence before we woke from it, violently, throwing on clothes once again and desperately pulling weapons out of hiding places. But we were too late and we knew it. Snow was butchered beyond repair. So was Granny, crossbow at her side.

Ruby cried. And cried hard, for the second she was allowed to mourn. But there he was, spitting red ooze all over the creamy carpet, his eyes dead white and his skin a matching hue. I felt sick as I dragged Ruby away begging her to move on her own, but she was breaking down and I couldn't pull her.

I slammed the door in David's face, listening to him scream out at me in messed up half words. His brain wasn't fully dead yet, not decomposed anyway. Outside, dogs barked at the house while the rest of the dead groaned in hunger. I felt sick. And even worse when I looked down and noticed the red marring the otherwise white tiles.

It took a few steps of the stairs to get Ruby to move again, her breathing finally beginning to settle down once she smelled the blood and realised what was happening. We weren't safe in Regina's home anymore. It was time to leave.

I could hear some of the other yelling about the car, but I wasn't listening. Neither was Ruby, in fact she went the other way with barely any thought to the others, never mind telling them where we were going.

Now I feel a little guilty for leaving the way we did, but at this point I don't care about much anymore. They were screaming before we even got out the back door. Sometimes I wonder if they waited for us, and that's why they got caught, but I like to think they were smarter than that. Ruby could get us out there much easier than a car ever could. I'm not guilty anymore. But then again, I can't be bothered feeling guilty anymore.

So now we're holed up in the motel, with no food and no weapons. _They_ are all outside waiting. We're going to die. We don't care.


End file.
